Simon Bailey, in Used Car Buyer, puts it perfectly, in his sum-up of this amazing car.
"I absolutley love my Mk2 V6 and at the moment theres nothing below about £50K that Id change it for. I did have a 172 when they first came out, but when you have a V6 you realise its in a completely different league. The car actually returned a 32 mpg average on a run to the Lake District. And when you open it up on those mountain roads, nothing I have ever owned could compare to it. There are few cars on the road with the presence of a Clio V6."
Hear hear, but about that fuel consumption, ahem, my last tankful showed 18 mpg. (Boy, have I been having FUN with this demon though.)
PS
Parked up next to a 147 GTA 3.2 today. The Clio made it look like a Fiesta LX diesel, on visual appeal.